Germany denies Qatar quotes attributed to defence minister

BERLIN – Germany is denying comments about Qatar attributed to the German defence minister in Arab media, saying the articles “are in large parts wrong.”

In an article published Saturday the Qatar News Agency cited an unidentified “local Arabic newspaper” as saying Ursula von der Leyen had spoken of a “conspiracy” by some of its neighbours to undermine the Gulf state’s security.

Defence ministry spokesman Frank Faehnrich said Monday the quotes attributed to von der Leyen were reviewed and “it’s a fact that the minister didn’t (make) these comments in any way.”

Faehnrich said that while the issue of Qatar came up during a podium discussion on the sidelines of the recent NATO summit in Brussels, “we can deny that the minister was quoted correctly.”